Archive for the ‘Social Justice’ Category

Here is a song that was inspired by the poem “Footprints:. This poem reminds us that at times when we may feel forsaken by all, Jesus is still present to comfort us in our hour of need, so we are never really alone.

Carry You
Isaiah 46: 3-4, Psalm 121:5

Verse 1
When you feel down
And there’s no one around
I’ll carry you
When you’re feeling the pain
And all seems in vain
I’ll carry you
When you feel like the world
Is not on your side
I’ll carry you
When you’re feeling the bruise
Of the wound in your heart
I’ll carry you

Chorus
You are my child
The delight of my heart
The sun will not smite you by day
I’ll carry you
In the warmth of my arms
And the moon
Will not smite you by night

Verse 2
When hurts do arise
And your life flashes by
I’ll carry you
When others are smiling
But you’re crying inside
I’ll carry you
When injustice continues
And seems unresolved
I’ll carry you
When prayers seem unanswered
And nothing makes sense
I’ll carry you

Bridge
I’m here to comfort you
My precious child
You don’t have to hide
Your emotions from me
Like a young lamb
Running back to the shepherd
I’ll protect you
From the dangers you see

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed He was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from His life. For each scene He noticed two sets of footprints in the sand. One belonging to Him and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of His life flashed before Him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of His life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of His life.

This really bothered Him and He questioned the LORD about it. LORD you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.

The LORD replied, my precious, precious child, I Love you and I would never leave you! During your times of trial and suffering when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.

I believe everyone should watch the program “Media Watch” on ABC TV on a regular basis . It helps to make us aware that whatever the media says is not always true and can instead be misleading. It is an important reminder to us that we should not believe everything we hear and read from all forms of media . It can teach us to be discerning about what we read and hear and to realise that much of what is presented to us from the media often has personal interest groups and financial backing from particular parties and media owners involved. It can also alert us to propaganda bias and untruths that can be perpetrated to us through the media.

Let us try to take a step back and think for ourselves instead of being automatically brainwashed by whatever the media says. It can also be wise to obtain our information or news from a variety of reputable sources and not just from sensationalised or commercial ones.

The program “Media Watch” can be viewed on ABC1 TV on Monday 9.20pm and repeated on Wed 12.25 am

The following is a brochure and flyer about the fight to allow Muslims the right to convert to Christianity or any other religion without being ostracised or harmed by their own Muslim community. Even though the last flyer event has already passed it still provides some useful information.

The following is an article from the Billy Graham Website offering encouragement & wisdom for those who are looking for work. It offers some sound wisdom and advice to help those who are in this difficult situation.

The Vote (NSW) to Promote a Fatherless Society Likely to Take Place within
24 Hours

On Thursday 2nd September, the Lower House of the NSW Parliament narrowly voted 46- 44 to support Clover Moore’s homosexual adoption bill, supported by Premier Kristina Keneally. The bill will go to the upper House on Tuesday the 7th of September and a vote taken within 24 hours.

Warwick Marsh, founder of Dads4Kids stated, “According to the Commsec State of the States report which was released April 2010, New South Wales has the worst performing economy in Australia, its trains don’t run on time and people are literally dying waiting to get into our overcrowded hospital system. How can the Keneally government waste precious time tying up parliament while whole sections of the community are in such desperate need? We have 24 sitting days until the next election, so why waste time debating this bill when there are so many other important community issues still to be dealt with?”

Marsh said, “Fathers Day has been celebrated this Sunday and is a celebration of the importance of a father in a child’s life. The message NSW
parliamentarians who voted for this bill are giving is that Dads are not
important. Conclusive research proves this to be a lie. Children with
involved fathers are more confident, better able to deal with frustration, better able to gain independence and their own identity, more likely to
mature into compassionate adults, more likely to have a high self esteem, more sociable, more secure as infants, less likely to show signs of depression, less likely to commit suicide, more empathetic, boys have been
shown to be less aggressive and adolescent girls are less likely to engage
in sex:

* 63% of teen suicides come from fatherless homes. That’s 5
times the national average. SOURCE: U.S. Dept of Health

* 80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless
homes. 14 times the national average. SOURCE: Justice and Behaviour

* 85% of children with behavioural problems come from
fatherless homes. 20 times the national average. SOURCE: Centre for Disease Control

* 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes – 9 times the national average. SOURCE: National Principals Association Report

* 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centres come from fatherless homes. 10 times the national average. SOURCE: Rainbows for all God’s Children

* 85% of all youths in prison come from fatherless homes. 20
times the national average. SOURCE: U.S. Dept. of Justice.”

Marsh continued, “The Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation calls on the mothers and fathers of New South Wales Australians everywhere to phone and email all members of the Upper House, MLC, or use the facility athttp://www.kidsrightscount.org.au to tell all the members of the upper house to vote ‘no’ to this bill when it comes up for vote next week. Fathers are important and children need both a mother and a father.”

Peter Walker, Aboriginal Elder of the Bundjulung tribe spoke to a capacity
crowd at a meeting in Parliament House, Sydney to protest against the
proposed Bill. Mr Walker said, “Children need a mum and dad. Aboriginal
culture is built around the family. Indigenous culture would never endorse
such injustice because within our culture children are greatly loved and
appreciated. This law is likely to create another stolen generation of
children and is simply unacceptable.”

Children Need a Mother & a Father
Contact the below listed NSW Parliamentarians

The parliamentarians who make a stand for children and families need our
support and those who don’t need to know that we care. Many people are too
busy with the challenges of life to become involved. Most never say
anything. As a result, in political circles there is an informal weighting
given to messages. It varies depending on who you hear it from, but it goes
something like this:

When no-one says anything, almost no-one cares.
For every email received, about 100 people care.
For every paper letter received, about 1,000 people care.
For every thoughtful phone call, about 5,000 people care.
For every person who visits, about 10,000 people care.
For every group that visits, about 50,000 people care
For every group that come back again, about 100,000 people care.

At the time of writing, NSW politicians had received 41,694 emails
concerning this legislation. To be a part of making it 60,000 in the next
few days, just use the Kids Rights Pollie-mail feature at the Australian
Christian Lobby.

Alternatively, you can use the details below to make more direct contact.

Baby Car Seat on the Roadside
While driving on a rural end of the roadway on Thursday morning, I saw an infant car seat on the side of the road with a blanket draped over it. For whatever reason, I did not stop, even though I had all kinds of thoughts running through my head. But when I got to my destination, I called the Police and they were going to check it out. But, this is what the Police advised even before they went out there to check….

“There are several things to be aware of … gangs and thieves are now plotting different ways to get a person (mostly women)to stop their vehicle and get out of the car.

“There is a gang initiation reported by the local Police where gangs are placing a car seat by the road….with a fake baby in
it…waiting for a woman, of course, to stop and check on the abandoned baby.

“Note that the location of this car seat is usually beside a wooded or grassy (field) area and the person — woman — will be dragged into the woods, beaten and raped, and usually left for dead. If it’s a man, they’re usually beaten and robbed and maybe left for dead, too.

DO NOT STOP FOR ANY REASON!!!

DIAL 0-0-0
AND REPORT WHAT YOU SAW, BUT DON’T EVEN SLOW DOWN.

Eggs Thrown on Your Windscreen

“IF YOU ARE DRIVING AT NIGHT AND EGGS ARE THROWN AT YOUR WINDSCREEN, DO NOT STOP TO CHECK THE CAR, DO NOT OPERATE THE WIPER AND DO NOT SPRAY ANY WATER BECAUSE EGGS MIXED WITH WATER BECOME MILKY AND BLOCK YOUR VISION UP TO 92.5%, AND YOU ARE THEN FORCED TO STOP BESIDE THE ROAD AND BECOME A VICTIM OF THESE CRIMINALS.

THIS IS A NEW TECHNIQUE USED BY GANGS, SO PLEASE INFORM YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES.

THESE ARE DESPERATE TIMES AND THESE ARE UNSAVOURY INDIVIDUALS WHO WILL TAKE DESPERATE MEASURES TO GET WHAT THEY WANT.”

Please talk to your loved ones about this. This is a new tactic used. Please be safe.

NAPCAN
NAPCAN is an organisation which seeks to help prevent child abuse by bringing it’s awareness to the community and seeking to make it everyone’s responsibility to assist in it’s prevention. The following is a link which provides some starting guidelines on how everyone can play their part to help overcome this grave aproblem.

The following is an excerpt from a NAPCAN email outlining some features of their recent community survey regarding child abuse:-

NAPCAN SURVEY RESULTS

NAPCAN has released the findings of our Community Attitude Survey on the Safety and Wellbeing of Children, which many of you took part in during National Child Protection Week 2009.

The Survey asked a range of questions about who is responsible for protecting children and what people might do if confronted by a situation where they suspected child abuse or neglect.

The Survey found that although most people (92% of respondents) consider child abuse to be a serious issue, many are hesitant to take action if faced with a real situation.

The Survey results reveal that when confronted with clear-cut scenarios of child abuse, less than 50% of respondents would take action to help the child by ringing a child protection authority or the police. And even if a child disclosed sexual abuse to them, only 34% of respondents would call the police.

The findings are alarming, especially given that respondents had a good understanding of child abuse and neglect issues. The results highlight the need to educate the whole community that protecting our children is everyone’s responsibility.

Respondents gave a range of reasons for not taking action, from worrying they might be wrong (48%) to not wanting to admit things like that happen (22%). Many people (38%) wouldn’t take action because they ‘don’t know what to do’. But the most troubling reason given was many people just don’t think it is their business (42%).

POLLY AND ME
We hope you will watch ABC 1 TV on Thursday 9 September at 9.30pm for a very important program. “Kids At Risk”, hosted by Geraldine Doogue, will feature the screening of a short film, Polly and Me, followed by a live studio discussion. Polly and Me depicts the life of an eight year old child who could be living in your street. Its purpose is to help break down the wall of silence about child abuse and neglect in 21st century Australia.

I read an interesting article a few months ago about a new “Collaborative S tyle” of conflict management. This involves finding a solution that completely satisfies the concerns of both parties (not just one) in a conflict.

To explain further what this means all the various conflict styles will be described. They are:-

1. Competing – assertive and uncooperative. You satisfy your own concerns at the expense of the other. Win/Lose.

2 Accommodating – unassertive and co-operative. You sacrifice your own concern’s to satisfy the other party.Lose/Win

3. Compromising – partially assertive and partially co-operative. You look for an acceptable settlement that only partially satisfies your own and the other party. 1/2 Lose/ 1/2 Win // 1/2Lose / 1/2 Win

4. Avoiding – unassertive and uncooperative. You try to sidestep or postpone the conflict, satisfying neither you concerns or the others. Lose/Lose

5. Collaborative – assertive and co-operative. You try to problem solve to find a solution that completely satisfies both your concerns and the others’.
Win / Win

Many people maybe surprised that a Collaborative outcome can be possible. What makes this different to the other styles, is that everyone involved is listening to the others’ views, not just focusing on their own needs and trying to incorporate the former into sound decisions.

It is important that people recognize which style they tend towards, before learning to adapt another style. Also one must learn to identify which style is most appropriate or productive for each given situation.

Research shows that a Collaborative Style of conflict resolution leads to superior decisions especially for complex and non routine issues eg. negotiation over resources. It is better at combining diverse insights into more accurate understandings leading to more innovative solutions. It also enhances communication learning and builds trust.

Another key to implementing this mode is to distinguish between “Positions” and “Concerns”. Concerns are the things people in a conflict care about. For instance, miners wish to ensure that their industry remains competitive and that they have enough profits to invest for future growth and new projects. The Government wishes to ensure that they can raise more funds in order to provide important services and infrastructure which is needed for the community and help pay off the budget deficit which occurred due to the Global Financial Crisis.

Positions on the other hand are the solutions that each party recommends as a way of satisfying their concerns. Eg. Miners hold a position they do not want a super profits tax introduced whereas the Government does see the need for this.

In finding out the Concerns of each party (and not just their positions), there is a much greater possibility of finding other innovative or alternative solutions (or positions) which may end up satisfying the needs of both parties. This is where brainstorming and creative problem solving can come into play.

Naturally this style will be more successful if both parties learn to adopt these Collaborative techniques on an equal level. It is important that such discussions also do not erupt into personality conflicts and clashes which can be highly destructive. Both parties involved would need to be very secure in themselves to implement such a mature and advanced conflict resolution style, since it can often require a greater openness as to personal concerns behind positions that people hold. To reach collaborative solutions can take much longer. Also views expressed can still be quite passionate. However the time taken to achieve collaborative solutions can often lead to better outcomes for all concerned in the long term.

Perhaps managers, top executives and leaders in power need to learn to adopt collaborative techniques in a greater measure so that more satisfactory solutions and outcomes may be achieved for all parties concerned.

These ideas were taken from a White Paper entitled “Making Conflict Management a Strategic Advantage” by Kenneth W Thomas Ph. D